The rock star cliche' is to date Swedish supermodels. John was the biggest rock star in the world and chose to marry a rather homely Japanese avant-garde artist. So it had to be for love. He finally met a woman that could challenge and stimulate his own artistic intellect.

People say she married him for his money. I doubt that. She came from one of Japan's wealthiest and most influential families and simply walked away from it, long before she met John. She wanted to be an artist and she lived for years without money. She could have gone back any time she wanted to her life of wealth and privilege.

People say she had no talent. That's not true either. She was a classically trained pianist. She actually knew tons more about music theory than John did. People covered their ears when she sang. Okay. It's hard to listen to, but ten years later, punk bands all over the world were doing that. And not all her songs were ululations...some were very gentle. But she was trying to push the envelope, no matter what she attempted.

But where she was trying to make her mark was in cutting edge art that by the 1980s was being called "performance art." It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but I've read about some of her work and it sounds intriguing to me. You can find her early 1960's performance called "Cut Piece" on YouTube. It was way ahead of its time...very feminist and very challenging to thought, while all she does is sit silently on stage while audience members come up one at a time and cut a bit of her clothing off.

Did she break up the Beatles? No. They were all headed for a breakup before that.

At the top of it all, she was a kindhearted soul who worked for peace and pushed John in that direction. After they married, she got John to begin tithing...giving a tenth of all income to charity. How many of us come anywhere close to that? I give to a number of charities, but I know my giving is far, far less than a tenth.

So give her a break already. She's what a human being should strive to become.

The rock star cliche' is to date Swedish supermodels. John was the biggest rock star in the world and chose to marry a rather homely Japanese avant-garde artist. So it had to be for love. He finally met a woman that could challenge and stimulate his own artistic intellect.

People say she married him for his money. I doubt that. She came from one of Japan's wealthiest and most influential families and simply walked away from it, long before she met John. She wanted to be an artist and she lived for years without money. She could have gone back any time she wanted to her life of wealth and privilege.

People say she had no talent. That's not true either. She was a classically trained pianist. She actually knew tons more about music theory than John did. People covered their ears when she sang. Okay. It's hard to listen to, but ten years later, punk bands all over the world were doing that. And not all her songs were ululations...some were very gentle. But she was trying to push the envelope, no matter what she attempted.

But where she was trying to make her mark was in cutting edge art that by the 1980s was being called "performance art." It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but I've read about some of her work and it sounds intriguing to me. You can find her early 1960's performance called "Cut Piece" on YouTube. It was way ahead of its time...very feminist and very challenging to thought, while all she does is sit silently on stage while audience members come up one at a time and cut a bit of her clothing off.

Did she break up the Beatles? No. They were all headed for a breakup before that.

At the top of it all, she was a kindhearted soul who worked for peace and pushed John in that direction. After they married, she got John to begin tithing...giving a tenth of all income to charity. How many of us come anywhere close to that? I give to a number of charities, but I know my giving is far, far less than a tenth.

So give her a break already. She's what a human being should strive to become.

I have seen the Cut Piece video before. It was quite neat and interesting.

And she is definitley one of my idols, since she is a peace activist and such a very kind person. I try to be like her, and others should, too.

So give her a break already. She's what a human being should strive to become.

I don't like her or hate her.

*But* when I listened to Woman for the first time and I saw some pics of her I was like "Man, if she, who doesn't look like a supermodel, inspired such a beautiful song, I think there must be hope for "plain looking" girls like me" I was 10, and honestly, that truly made me see that there are some men who don't care about looks that much. And I always said in my high school "Yeah, he's not a John, he likes that girl because she's hot and brainless. Nop, he's not a John"

About her music, to be honest, I never paid much attention to it. It's just not my kind of music.

She was a risk taker and, despite the masses of criticism, cynicism and jibes she put up with after she and John fell in love, she doesn't seem to have ever compromised.

Things I don't love about Yoko

Some of the licensing of John's image, music, artwork etc has been very questionable since he died. Coloured-in lithographs, car adverts etc. Let it be.

I wish she'd release more of John's work from when they were together, such as their films and his recordings. Some of it comes out now and then, but it's all quite haphazard.

I wish she'd write an autobiography and tell her side of the story, though I do also admire her stoic silence.

Some of her writing, such as Grapefruit and her Twitter feed, is pseudy nonsense masquerading as poignancy. I've no time for it.

Her YokoQ&A, every Friday (sample) is occasionally fascinating, but she gives tantalisingly short answers to things I wish she'd explain more fully. She also seems to attract people who ask the most banal questions (eg "Which is more important to you: walls, or doors?").

While some of her music is fantastic, the wailing was awful. Just awful. She ruins quite a bit of Live Peace In Toronto and Rock And Roll Circus for me.

Things I love about this forum

When I saw there was a thread about Yoko Ono, I was half expecting a load of mindless invective, cliche and borderline racism, as is common on this subject. You did yourselves proud

I'm neither here nor there in regards to Yoko. I don't hate the woman at all- some of her incentives seem a little off-putting at times (yes, Joe, the car advert) but she seems to be doing his memory well. I don't like how she takes the role as "John's representative" on certain matters- just because they were married by no means does it mean that they would have the same stand-point on things... as often as they tried to prtray that image.

Some days, I think to myself, "God, that Yoko..." and don't like her all that much. I think that anger can be boiled down to pure jealousy. She got John's love. I'm a little naively bitter about that fact.

I agree with most of the previous comments. I don't dislike Yoko as a person but I really hate her music. No one would have ever bought her records if she hadn't been married to John. And I strongly disagree that she influenced punk. The only thing Yoko Ono and punk rock have in common is bad singing. The difference is I like punk.

I like the fact Yoko is still campaigning for peace, although I think it's a completely pointless waste of time because you can't get peace by just telling people the world needs peace. Her answers to her Q&A are annoyingly arty and cryptic – she never seems to give a straight answer.

She made John happy though and that's the important thing. People think just because she's a public figure it gives them the right to slag her off as a person. She should be treated with the same respect everyone else deserves, especially if your talking about her on the internet, which is basically like shouting in the middle of a crowded street.

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness… I believe in SH...

24 May 201010.58am

Joe

Pepperland

Admin

Forum Posts: 4047

Member Since: 31 March 2008

Offline

38

McLerristarr said:

I agree with most of the previous comments. I don't dislike Yoko as a person but I really hate her music. No one would have ever bought her records if she hadn't been married to John. And I strongly disagree that she influenced punk. The only thing Yoko Ono and punk rock have in common is bad singing. The difference is I like punk.

Have you heard Rock Lobster by the B-52s? It's not punk, it came slightly after, but there are some vocals that sounds very similar to Yoko's shrieking - at around 4'50 in the full version. John Lennon apparently heard it in a disco and excitedly phoned her, saying "Yoko - they're finally ready for you!"

I've never heard it said that she influenced punk. I suppose some of her experimental qualities might have been adopted, but otherwise I'd agree with you (apart from the bit about liking punk - it's always seemed pretty childish and boring to me).

Can buy me love! Please consider using these links to support the Beatles Bible: Amazon | iTunes

25 May 201011.26am

McLerristarr

A Place

Carnegie Hall

Forum Posts: 255

Member Since: 13 November 2009

Offline

39

Joe said:

McLerristarr said:

I agree with most of the previous comments. I don't dislike Yoko as a person but I really hate her music. No one would have ever bought her records if she hadn't been married to John. And I strongly disagree that she influenced punk. The only thing Yoko Ono and punk rock have in common is bad singing. The difference is I like punk.

Have you heard Rock Lobster by the B-52s? It's not punk, it came slightly after, but there are some vocals that sounds very similar to Yoko's shrieking - at around 4'50 in the full version. John Lennon apparently heard it in a disco and excitedly phoned her, saying "Yoko - they're finally ready for you!"

I've never heard it said that she influenced punk. I suppose some of her experimental qualities might have been adopted, but otherwise I'd agree with you (apart from the bit about liking punk - it's always seemed pretty childish and boring to me).

I love Rock Lobster! I just learnt to play the guitar riff on the piano yesterday. I guess there are some things that sound similar to Yoko's shrieking, but that doesn't necessarily mean they got it from her. Yoko's shrieking always sounded improvised rather than part of a tune. I got Live Peace in Toronto on DVD for Christmas and you're right, Yoko does ruin it. It was great until Yoko's songs (which sounded very similar). They had to end on a low note... or rather a very, very high note.

Glad this thread was started - I thought I was the only one here to ever say anything nice about Yoko! I think most everything she recorded between 1970 and '81 was at least interesting and often excellent, and I listen to her "Plastic Ono Band" record way more often than John's counterpart album. And if she WAS entirely responsible for the Beatles split (which she wasn't), then GOOD FOR HER, thank you for getting them to break up at the perfect time, both practically and symbolically, leaving behind a pristine back catalog, rather than hanging in there through the 70s & beyond, making increasingly irrelevent, depressing albums.

All that being said, it's true that her wailing ululations (thanks Mr. K) aren't for everyone, and have little place outside of her own albums - her minimal vocal contributions to the White Album were just enough.

Top Ten Club

Can buy me love

The Beatles Bible is run for the love of anything and everything to do with The Beatles. If you've learned something new about the band and wish to show your appreciation, why not make a small donation via PayPal? It'll help with server costs, research material etc...